Rockford man finally bows out of rock, paper, scissors competition

Wednesday

If it weren’t for them, he never would have won an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Las Vegas and the chance to win $50,000.

Or perhaps it really was his rock-paper-scissors strategy that landed him in the final four in the second annual USA Rock Paper Scissors League Championship, held May 13 in Sin City and televised on ESPN2 July 7.

"I really do feel that it happened for a reason, especially after this thing about 7/7/07," Seward said. "What a significant sign."

When Seward and his friend Flint stopped in LT’s bar in Rockford for wings, they saw someone moving the tables and chairs and heard someone else yell "rock paper scissors," he said.

The contest was on: Two out of three hands won a bout, and two out of three bouts won a match. The winner among the 18 people who signed up at LT’s would play other winners in the Rockford area, and that winner would win a trip to Las Vegas for the national championship.

Seward decided to play as soon as he knew it was free.

"When is anything free anymore?" he thought. Besides, he was used to playing with his son, Jordan, whenever they were trying to get out of doing a chore — even though he usually lost.

Seward won that night and was invited to JD’s Sports Bar and Grill to compete against 35 other Rock River Valley winners from the area. This time, he brought his wife, Deb, because she didn’t believe that winning that night would mean going with him to Las Vegas.

"It was a big joke to everybody," Seward said.

But he came in second and figured that was the end of it.

Then he found out the winner could not go to Las Vegas and, as first runner-up, he got the trip. He and Deb packed their bags.

Seward was one of 297 contestants vying for the $50,000 prize. But just being there was a prize in itself, Seward thought.

"The amenities that they offered and the free drinks and free accommodations were just superlative," he said.

Since Bud Light sponsored the event, beer was free all weekend.

"I think that was really what made the event so fun," he said.

By the end of the weekend, Seward was one of the 16 finalists. And the oldest one at that.

At that point, things got serious.

Seward said one of the coordinators sat all the finalists down to tell them what he thought about their "luck."

"He said, ‘Don’t let anyone tell you that there’s no strategy to this game,’ " Seward said. "He said ‘It’s more than luck because if there was no strategy, you would not be here right now. You guys have some type of system that has brought you this far.’ "

And Seward did, in fact, have a strategy.

"It’s kind of like playing poker," he said. "You have to figure out what your opponent’s going to throw."

Seward said that although the championship had been fun up to that point, he got nervous when it came down to the final four.